


Visiting? Yeah, Sure, Let's go with that.

by writeswithfeatherquills



Series: UnderVale [3]
Category: Undertale, Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Blueberry is having a fun time in Night Vale, I kinda hope not., Maybe CQ will see this?, except not really, is anyone even reading this stuff?, oh well, poor guy, the saga continues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-07-12 13:58:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7108009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writeswithfeatherquills/pseuds/writeswithfeatherquills
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blueberry just wanted out of this stupid anti-void. Sure, Error was...okay? But he really wanted to get out.<br/>And out he got.<br/>But in the gamble between the devil you know and the devil you don't...Blue mighta just lost, big time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Yes, this is being continued! This will probably be the last installment featuring CQ's lovely guys, but I'm not done shoving the Undertale cast into this weirdo town, so stay tuned! Also, this last installment will have multiple chapters, unlike the last two.

_“--lights went out right before he opened the door. But he looked rather frightened. He must be very wise. Or, possibly, insane.”_

Sans looked up groggily, clenching his teeth as he trembled, confused and trying to ignore the phantom feeling of the darkness around his torso. What had happened, where was he? He had been...where had he been before this? Why couldn't he remember? His head felt fuzzy, and he groaned slightly, sitting up. He was in a dark room, with a lone spot of light casting deep shadows on a man at a table. The man glanced up from the microphone he was speaking into, and made eye contact with him.

 _“Well, listeners, here’s something new. I believe we have yet_ another _visitor! Isn't that interesting? I don't remember him coming in here, perhaps he came in the way the other one went out.”_

The other one? A sharp pain shot through his head and he winced.

 _“Hello, what are you doing here?”_ the man asked him, and Sans smiled weakly.

“uhm? I'm not, really, sure? I, heh, can't remember how I got here.”

The man nodded sagely.

_“It is rare for any of us to remember how we got anywhere in this world. Indeed, it is often rather dangerous to try, lest you become lost in the labyrinth of your memories, of images you'd rather have forgotten and experiences you'd rather sleep through, except it's far too late for that. No one wants to become a victim of their own mind, or even worse, admit that they already have, always have been.”_

Sans blinked, unsure of what to say to that.

 _“well, what's your name, then?”_ the man asked. Sans responded quickly, speaking without thinking.

“Blu--”

Wait, what? Blu? Blu-what? Why did he say that? His head hurt again.

“I'm the Magnificent Sansational Sans!” he said, glossing right over his blunder with practiced confidence and striking a pose. The man at the table looked suitably impressed.

_“Well, listeners, this Magnificent Sansational Sans appears to be a skeleton, with eyes the color of forbidden seas and armor polished by years of persistence and hard work, gleaming even in this darkness. He seems rather nice! Sans, would you like to do an interview?”_

Sans paused, thinking. He'd always wanted to be interviewed, and here was his chance! But he got the feeling that he really needed to do something else, something really important. The feeling tugged insistently at the back of his head, but he couldn't tell what it wanted.

Well, whatever it was, surely it could wait fifteen minutes? Ignoring how weird the concept of measurable time sounded for some reason, he nodded at the man, who grinned.

 _“Wonderful! Here, take a seat.”_ all of a sudden, there was a chair sitting across the table from the man. As Sans sat down, the lights in the room flicked on, and Sans could see that they were in a recording booth. The walls were bare, unadorned by anything other than some barely-there brown stains. A microphone hung from...what he assumed was the ceiling, but it was so dark, that it looked more like an endless abyss reaching up and up into nothing. But despite the fact that it might not be holding on to anything at all, the microphone hung in place, unmoving, a half foot from the man at the table, who was…

Was…

Well, he was a man. Sans was pretty sure of that. He was neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin, but perfectly average. Yes, average. Well, maybe moving purple tattoos was not average for humans, but since Sans was not looking at any purple tattoos right now, he could safely assume that the man had none, and was average. He could also tell, by looking at the man’s nose, that he was not directly focusing on any extra eyes that may or may not adorn the man’s face, and therefore, the man probably didn’t have any, and was average. Very average. That was a safe assumption.

Sans’ head hurt. But the man was average. Safe assumption. Safe. Average.

Anyways, the average man was smiling at him very kindly, and that was easier to focus on, something reassuring in a world he really didn’t understand. He figured someone who was smiling so nicely must be safe. (Average. Safe.)

_“Well, Sans, let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Cecil, and I’m the local radio show host here at Night Vale Community Radio. Is this your first time visiting Night Vale?”_

“Yes, I believe so!” Sans replied. He had never heard of a place called Night Vale before--what an odd name!

 _“Where are you visiting from?_ ” Cecil asked, and Sans’ head was immediately filled with a loud, harsh buzzing, causing him to wince. But...where _did_ he come from? He couldn’t remember….his head hurt. Cecil noticed the small skeleton wince, and his mouth tugged into a small frown.

_“Oh, I’m so sorry, is that a forbidden topic for you? My bad, here, instead of the past, let’s focus on the present! Why are you visiting Night Vale? Visiting, perhaps?”_

As Cecil spoke, the buzzing slowly receded, and Sans could actually think about the question directed at him.

“I’m not sure!” he said cheerfully. “I mean, I feel like there’s some important reason I’m here, but I can’t remember what it is. Like, when you walk into a room and forget what you’re there for? It’s kinda like that. So I guess I’ll just walk around until I remember it? It’s pretty rare to find a new part of the Underground that I haven’t seen yet, so it’ll be nice to do some sightseeing!” he grinned, but the grin faded quickly when he saw that Cecil was giving him a funny look.

 _“The...Underground?”_ he asked.

“Yeah, under Mt. Ebott? The Monsters have been trapped here by the barrier for a thousand years.” Sans explained, but Cecil shook his head, speaking slowly but not unkindly.

_“First off, Sans, I’m not sure if you were aware, but mountains do not exist.”_

Sans blinked.

 _“And secondly, Night Vale is a_ desert _community, not an underground one. I mean, there’s a tiny underground civilization under the pin retrieval area of lane five at the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex, but that’s populated by tiny people, not monsters. Besides, if Night Vale was underground, how would we scream at the void? Or get screamed_ at _by the occasional sunrise?”_

Okay. Now, Sans knew that there were plenty of things that were incredibly wrong about what the radio host had just said, but he chose to focus on the most important thing.

“Wait, so, you’re saying that...we’re...on the surface?! Right now?!” he whispered, eyes wide with shock and displaying glowing yellow stars. Despite his obvious excitement, Cecil remained calm and contemplative.

_“The Surface of what? We’re not on the surface of the sun, I can tell you that much, but we are standing on the skin of whatever great beast one chooses to believe we perch upon. Is it a planet? The thought of some greater cosmic being? The haze of--oh. Listeners, Sans just bolted out of my studio. I’m going to follow him, so for now, I take you--_

_To the weather.”_

****

**_(Tilli Tilli Bom)_ **

 

Sans bolted out of the room like his boots were on fire, dashing down the hallway towards a set of stairs. He paused, suddenly struck by a dillema. Up or down? Well, the lights were only on in the lower portion of the stairs, so down it was. He scrambled down the stairs, taking them two or three at a time, only his special guard training and lower center of gravity keeping him from tumbling most of the way down.

When he got to the bottom, he found himself in a pleasantly-decorated lobby, and for one terrifying second, he couldn’t see any sort of doors. Then a teen in a green headband sitting behind a reception desk suddenly lifted an arm and pointed to a wall, glassy-eyed, and Sans saw the big double doors that he could have sworn weren’t there a second ago. Pushing that quandary aside for now, he ran through the lobby and pushed open the doors, skidding to a stop outside.

Outside.

Really, truly outside, with a bright shining orb that could only be the sun casting a warm light down on him from a sky so blue he could hardly believe it was real. He was outside, above ground, and he stood stock still, hardly daring to breathe lest he shatter whatever beautiful dream he must be having. He breathed in, out, and again, smelling sand and shrubs and the distant scent of pizza. This was real, right?

“Oh stars, please let it be real.” he whispered. It was so beautiful up here, the sunlight was so warm, sinking into his bones like a warm fire, it was so clear and beautiful and _not underground_ , he could feel tears swimming in his eye sockets. He wiped them away hastily, then giggled weakly when a passing breeze blew through his skull, tickling slightly. He allowed himself a few more moments of marveling before he started paying attention to the questions that were buzzing around in his head. How was he here? How did he get past the barrier? Did he bypass it altogether by going through the anti-void?

Wait. Anti-void? (Why was he here? Where had he _come from_?)

Suddenly the buzzing questions turned into just...buzzing, high and loud and ringing through his skull like a swarm of bees. He winced, but didn’t direct his train of thought away from it like he had before. What was an anti-void? Why did he think that word but not know what it meant? He had so many questions, and absolutely no answers whatsoever. Suddenly he was aware of Cecil bursting through the doors of the radio station, heaving a sigh of relief when he saw that Sans hadn’t run off. The buzzing died down somewhat, just enough for Sans to hear what the man was saying.

“Sans, you really must be more careful! I mean, running is good exercise, but you just ran right past Station Management's office without--” (running, running, he remembered running, but why was he _here?_ What had he been running from?)

Cecil paused in the middle of his sentence, his gaze lifting just over Sans’ shoulder and turning into an ugly sneer.

“Uuuugh.” the man groaned, and Sans turned around to see what was the matter, but all he could see was a man across the street waving to them. He waved back, and the man smiled widely before turning back to whatever he was doing. Sans turned back to Cecil.

“What's wrong?” he asked, and the radio host huffed in annoyance.

“ _Steve Carlsberg.”_ He snarled, still glaring over at the man. Sans frowned. He had never seen such an intense look of hatred before.

“...oh. uh, what's wrong with him?” Sans asked hesitantly.

“Everything.” Cecil deadpanned, and Sans frowned.

“Oh, come on, he can’t be that bad! Everyone can be a good person, they just have to try!” (everyone, everyone, anyone can be a good person, even him, even...who?)

Cecil gave him a very strange look at that, his eyebrows furrowed in concern, sadness, and some other emotion Sans couldn’t really place. Then he lifted his eyes again, and groaned twice as loud as before, covering his face with one hand.

“Oh Void, here he comes.” The radio host muttered, and Sans turned slightly to see that the man was indeed crossing the street towards them, grinning cheerfully.

“Hey Cecil! Hey, you must be Sans! I heard you on the radio, good to meet you!” the man said, reaching out for a handshake. Sans obliged, wondering why on Earth Cecil hated this man so. He didn’t seem bad at all.

“Nice to meet you too.” Sans replied, and Steve grinned.

“I’m glad you think so. Hey, you know, you’re really lucky you met my step-brother here before anyone else, this place can be really dangerous…”

“Oh, for the love of the Void, Steve, please don’t go on another one of….”

Sans wasn’t hearing anything they said anymore.

_“step-brother, step-brother, brother, brother….brother….brother…”_

_“heya sans, what’s up?”_

_“You know perfectly well what’s “up”, brother! It’s been eight days and you still…”_

_“mornin’, bro.”_

_“Hey bro, i’m headed to muffet’s.”_

_“you’re so cool, bro.”_

Oh my god, _Papyrus_.

How had he forgotten Papyrus?! His own brother, who...oh god, was he even still _alive?_ After that...oh god, he couldn’t remember, his head hurt too much, the sun was too bright in his eyesockets, nothing made sense but he needed to _get back to Papyrus._

“Uh, you doing alright there, buddy? You’re not looking so hot…” Steve mused, and Cecil glanced down to see that the skeleton was wearing a look of absolute horror and despair, a look he knew well. That was the look of someone who just realized they had forgotten something incredibly important. He sighed sadly. Sans must have thought that people could just keep their most important memories like keepsakes on your dresser, instead of sand in a sieve. Poor guy.

“I...I forgot...my brother…” Sans whispered slowly. Steve grinned.

“Well, you remembered him now! That’s really good, you’re lucky.”

“N-no, you don’t understand! I need to get back to him, he could be really hurt! Oh, oh no, oh, Cecil, how do I get back underground? Wait, I have to...uugghhh…”

He knew it wouldn’t be as simple as going back underground, he would have to pick the _right_ underground, but that didn’t make any sense, but it _did_ , and he was still forgetting something so incredibly important, but he just couldn’t remember. Why was he here? Where had he come from? It felt like someone was driving a spear into his skull, like his very soul was being stretched and twisted and frozen and burned; something was so terribly wrong, but he didn’t know what. He just needed his brother. He needed Papyrus. How did he get back?

“I’m sorry, Sans, but Night Vale doesn’t let people go that easily.” Cecil sighed.

“No, I _have to!_ ” Sans cried, gripping the man’s sleeve. He could move, he could, there was no string, no strings on him, he could move, his head hurt so much but he needed to get to Papyrus! “You don’t understand, my _brother_ is _hurt!_ He needs me!” How did he know? How? Why was his brother hurt? _Where had he come from?_ “Please, there has to be some way!”

Steve and Cecil exchanged a glance that contained words that needed to be said, but never would.

“Well...if there is a way, you’d probably find it in…”

Steve glanced at the ground. Cecil glared daggers at him.

“...the library.”


	2. Knight in glitching armor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Does the chapter title give something away? Perhaps. But it's CLEVER, DAMNIT.

When Error fell to the ground on the other side of the rift, he was immediately surrounded by chaos. He was also surrounded by bookshelves, stretching up as far as he could see. One of them held nothing but the autobiography of Helen Hunt. But he barely registered this, because there were a lot more important things on his mind, like the pale, fleshy monster that was holding Blueberry aloft in one of its tentacles. There were two men on the floor trying to fight the beast, one holding a battle axe, and the other holding some a pistol as some strange tentacles of dark shadow flickered behind him agitatedly. The two men fought pretty well together, but it was clear that they were hardly making a dent in the beast, who was now holding Blueberry over it’s gaping, glass shard-filled maw.

Error took all of five seconds to read the situation before he acted, anchoring the blue strings securely around his fingers before flicking them outwards, wrapping the strings around blueberry and tearing him away from the creature. While he was at it, he tied up the beast, which took way more string than he was expecting.

“Alright, you filthy glitch.” he snarled, tightening the strings and making the beast howl.  “Time to TAKE OUT THE _**GARBAGE**_!”

As adrenaline of the kill pumped through his broken, glitching soul, Error slammed the beast into a nearby bookshelf, then the bookshelf opposite, then the floor, all the while tightening the strings more and more. The beast howled in agony and rage, straining against the strings, but to no avail. This thing had taken Blueberry, was trying to hurt his captive, and Error was having exactly none of that.

He saw out of the corner of his eye the two men dragging an unconscious Blueberry away, scrambling to escape the wanton destruction Error was causing in his fight.

“Oh, no you don’t.” he growled, extending more string to wrap around the three. One of the men shouted to him, glancing around in pure fear.

“No, we have to go! Librarians hunt in packs!”

All of a sudden, there was the sound of a distant roar, and the ground shook slightly. Error frowned. Normally he would have no problem taking on multiple enemies, but these...librarians?...were a lot tougher than he had expected, and he wasn’t sure if he could take more than two at a time. 

“Fine.”

He retracted the strings around the two men, redirecting to hold Blueberry, and reached behind him to open a rift back to the anti-void. He threw the librarian as far away as he could, and then, dragging Blueberry with him, stepped through the rift.

 

.o.O.o.

 

Error stepped out of the rift, and blanched. Wait, he had opened a rift to the anti-void, right? This...was not the anti-void. This was...oh, yeah, he remembered now. This was that super weird universe he had accidentally traveled to once and promptly shoved from his memory. Where he had just left. Except they weren’t in the library anymore, but outside on the street. Error frowned. Still holding onto Blueberry, he opened another rift, this time, to the anti-void. He stepped through, grumbling. He was ready to go home, damnit.

 

…

 

“...okay, that the FUCK?!” He shouted. This was still that same damn nightmare city! He opened another rift, vaguely registering that his reserves of magic were getting a little low, and jumped through. Still Night Vale. He growled, and opened another rift.

Still Night Vale.

Another rift.

Still Night Vale.

He shouted in frustration, panting heavily. This was a lot more magic than he was used to using in one go, but that didn’t really matter right now because they needed to leave. They needed to get the fuck out of this nightmare, and get back to his nice, clean, white anti-void. But apparently, that wasn’t going to happen. What the hell was wrong with this town?!

Suddenly, the two men from earlier burst out of the library, bloody and panting and looking considerably worse for wear. One of the men collapsed, and a group of hooded figures emerged from a nearby bush and huddled around him, chanting softly. Then they all disappeared.

“Oh, Sans!” the man who was left exclaimed, running over. “Is he okay? I know recovering from a librarian attack can be a bit difficult, but I’m sure he’ll be fine, he looks--wait.” The man (man? Right, yes, he was a man. Error was pretty sure about that. But for some reason he...nevermind.) looked up, staring at Error’s face with an uncomfortable intensity. Error squirmed, looking away and just wishing that this man would leave him alone.

“Wait, you’re that visitor from the radio station earlier! You left before I could say hello!” the man said excitedly, sticking out his hand for a handshake. Error glanced down at the proffered hand, shivered, and took a small step back.

“Yeah, and I don’t wanna stick around that long now, either. Why can’t I get out of here?” he demanded. “What the hell is wrong with this town?” 

“Well, you don’t need to be rude, every town has it’s little quirks--”

“Quirks my ass. Why can’t I get out of here?”

“Probably because you were trying to leave through a trans-dimensional rift. Those have been outlawed for years!" the man exclaimed, and Error felt the insistent presence of a loading bar in the back of his mind.

“...What.”

“Well, yes, after that whole incident with the bagel shop in 1703? The City Council outlawed Transdimensional rifts, so that we didn’t have to worry about those sesame seeds or mutant tigers anymore.”

The loading bar was hovering closer. He could feel a bluescreen coming on, god this town was awful. He moved on, left the topic behind.

“...uh, yeah, okay. Whatever. Look, just...how do I get the fuck outta this town?” Error asked. The man sighed.

“You can’t, not really. That’s what I was telling Sans, but he just didn’t believe me. That’s why we had to go to the library in the first place.”

Error curled his hands into fists, forgetting that Blueberry was still tied up. The extra tension tightened the strings around the unconcious skeleton, and dragged him painfully back to awareness.

“Uuugghh...ow! What the…” Sans woke up to the feeling of being tied up in string, and oooh boy, there was that headache again. Where was he, he was just in the library and then there was...oh. There was someone else. Some dark figure that he…he...his head hurt so badly...he needed to remember though, he couldn't end up like...like who? He could almost remember, the needles driving into his soul weren’t enough to keep him from slowly opening his eyes, looking up at...

Him.

He remembered now. The splitting headache vanished, leaving the world silent and still, like a frozen moment in a terrible dream, a memory he didn't want to remember.

...That’s why he was here.

“Sorry, Blueberry.” Error said as he released the strings, unaware of Sans' inner turmoil. A wave of despair washed over him, seeing Error again, but that muted pang of bittersweet relief at seeing his friend alive and unharmed was enough to force on a believable smile.

“It’s okay, Error.” He stood up, wobbling slightly, and blinked a few times, trying to get rid of the persistent blackness crowding at the edges of his vision. That’s...that’s why he was here. He was trying to escape. And he had failed. He felt despair pulling at him, felt the smile slipping off his face. He had been so close! He could have gotten back to his brother--No. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about how this could have been his only chance. Don’t think about it. Think about something else, anything else! Even that librarian attack would have been preferable to this...speaking of.

“Sorry, Cecil. I didn’t know a library could be that dangerous! I never would have dragged you two in there with me.” he turned to the radio host, who looked confused.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, you think I would let you go in there alone? Honestly, what do they teach you in the Underground? Every child needs to be warned about the danger of libraries and librarians, for their own safety.”

“...right. Well, that’s all well and good, but we need to leave. Now.” Error interjected. Sans fidgeted, not wanting to return to the anti-void at all. He had been so close! But he had sort of found a way to escape,he had an out now. He had escaped once, maybe he could do it again. He held his tongue, and unclenched his hands. 

“Hmmm...maybe we should go see Carlos, he knows a lot about--”

“Cecil Gershwin Palmer!” A shrill, guttural voice cut through their conversation, and all three heads whipped towards its source. Cecil smiled at the old woman storming down the street, and called a friendly reply.

“Oh, hello Josie, how are--”

“Cecil, I swear to the Old Ones, if you keep welcoming newcomers, we’re going to end up drowning in them!” the woman growled, motioning to another figure she was towing behind her, one who looked vaguely familiar…

“Oh, god, please no.” Error groaned. “Not you.”

“Awh, c’mon brah, I thought we discussed the whole “friendly greetings” shizniks!” Fresh drawled with a lazy wave. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO’S BACK (back, back)? BACK AGAIN?
> 
> Muchas Gracias to anyone still reading this, by the way. I appreciate you, this is one of my favorite stories despite its low readership, and I'm glad some people are enjoying it. :)


	3. Friends in...Weird places

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Fresh is not to be trusted, and Cecil is a bit scatter-brained, but still #relatable.   
> Also the author has not yet figured out that hashtags are no longer cool.

“Whazzup, Lil’ Blue? How’s it hangin? Supah fresh?”

“Uhhmm...h-hi? It’s, uh, okay?” Sans replied hesitantly, not even sure if this guy was speaking english. He must be from another AU, he was obviously a Sans, but he was...radically different.

“No, no, no no no. We are not, I am  _ not _ getting trapped in a universe with  _ him! _ ” Error shouted, pointing a trembling finger at the rainbow parasite. Glitches peppered his frame, and Sans stepped closer, getting in his line of vision and holding up his hands.

“H-hey, just hold on Error, I’m sure we can figure something out.”

“Yeah, boseph, ya really gotta chill it with that sicknasty hostility, my chum.” Fresh drawled, heelying in a circle. Sans watched in confusion. What was up with this guy?

“In fact, you should probably be nice to me, seein’ as I only booked it to this totes cray-cray ‘verse to bust you out.” he grinned, and Sans blinked.

“Oh, for the love of--Why can’t you all get it through your head, Night Vale doesn’t just let people go!” Cecil buried his head in one hand.

“Indeed, it would be difficult for you all to leave.” Josie nodded.

“Nah, don’t even worry about it, Granny. I got some rad connections.” Fresh grinned, shooting finger guns at Old Woman Josie, who scowled at him.

“Fine. Just get out of our town.” she glared at him.

“You said it, Granny.” He turned to the other two skeletons, and suck his hands in his pockets. “Aaalllrighty! Let’s get movin’, brosephs.” he called, and started heelying away. Error growled profanities under his breath, and Sans chuckled weakly as he followed. Cecil glanced down at his watch, and frowned.

“Hey, good luck you guys, I gotta get back to my show. The weather’s almost over.” he called, and Sans turned around to wave goodbye.

“Thanks, Cecil!” he called. Cecil started walking back to the radio station, and Sans and Error followed Fresh down the road, until a tall building came into view.

“Is that where we’re headed?” Sans asked, and Fresh turned around, heelying backwards now.

“Abso-rad-ly my bro-pal! That funk-alicious building there is City Hall.” He turned around again, and Sans looked down at his feet as he walked.

“Why are you helping us, anyways?” Error asked, his voice a glitching growl of mistrust. Fresh looked over his shoulder at them, pulling down his sunglasses just enough to see a glimpse of something in his eyesocket that had Sans reeling backwards in shock. What...What was that?! 

“Oh, just bein’ a super-fresh pal! Besides, now  _ you owe me.” _

Error and Blue exchanged a look of uncertainty, but it was over in a flash, Error scowling and staring straight ahead, muttering curses under his breath about viruses and filth and yada yada yada. 

“Anyways! You bros got no choice but to trust me, huh? Fun times.” Fresh said with absolutely no change in his expression. Blue was starting to really want to get away from this guy, but he had a point; they weren't exactly swimming in options here. 

But if Fresh was to be believed, they would be back in the anti-void soon. He frowned, thinking about that horrible place. And Error probably wouldn’t leave him alone again for a while, so he wouldn’t have a lot of chances to escape. And could he even do that again? Last time he had tried, he’d ended up here. And...he didn’t really want to come back. Cecil was very nice, and so was Steve Carlsberg, but...this town scared him, in some deep-seated, subconscious way he didn’t want to think about. 

So it was the devil he knew, or the devil he didn’t want to know.

They walked into City Hall. 

 

.o.O.o.

 

_ Welcome back, Listeners. I’ve just returned from a very interesting trip to...oh, you’ll never guess it! Seriously. You never will. Ever. _

_ ….But I was just in the library! Yes, I followed Sans outside, where we had an extremely unfortunate encounter with Steve Carlsberg, and we ended up in the library, trying to figure out a way to get Sans back to his underground. He remembered his brother, and that he was hurt, and was immediately filled with an intensity I haven’t seen since...well.  _

_ It is...good, listeners, to remember your family. Be there for them, remember them, talk to them every once in awhile. I...can’t really...do that...but, if you can, you definitely should. _

_ Anyways, once the inevitable librarian attack happened, we were suddenly joined by another skeleton, who looked like Sans, but had a nasty case of pixelitis. He used some sort of strings to restrain the librarians, and then escaped through an illegal rift. However, they couldn’t return home through those, obviously, so Old Woman Josie brought along a friend of theirs to help. He was wearing some clothing reminiscent of a time long long past, in an alternate dimension only the 90’s kids will remember. They’re now on their way to City Hall, as far as I can tell.  _

_ That’s interesting, listeners, because I could have sworn that City Hall was being relocated for redecoration and recoronation purposes. But there it is, and there they are, and as they walk through those giant doors, I can see three expressions, all of varying degrees of fear and hostility and repressed anguish.  _

_ They’re now, oh, wow, they’re going up to talk to City Council! The 90’s one is...engaging in a long, complicated handshake with City Council…. _

_ It’s still going…. _

_ Still going… _

_ Y’know, I think we have some time to hear a word from our sponsors. _

_ There is a long and winding road. There is always this road, and it will always be long, or winding, or both. There are stars above your head, and you can feel your feet on the road. Your feet are neither long nor winding, yet. This pleases you, as do the dancing stars overhead. You walk the long and winding road. And then you run the long and winding road. You skip, hop, jump, crawl, scream, beg, sit, lie, cry, forget. _

_ The road is still long and winding, but you see nothing anymore. _

_ Some come on in to Pearle Vision for a free consultation for a new prescription! _

_ Ah, listeners, it appears that the handshake is over now. City Council has slipped their typical fearsome monologue and is engaging in...Small talk? Oh! From various contextual linguistic cues, an inference is just within reach that indicates that the 90s guest is, in fact, a cousin of city council! They're now telling stories about their last family reunion...Oh dear, did their aunt really say...Oh my. How embarrassing. Listeners, it is important to remember the mind addling effects of carrot juice, and that certain people really shouldn't imbibe, especially when around those they wish to remain close to them.  _

_ Now there is a shout, and the glitching friend of Sans is demanding that they leave.  _

_...Listeners. there comes a time in everyone's life when they wish to fly the coop, break out on their own, hitchhike around the country, go vegan! And yet we must not. For our own sake. For the sake of our loved ones, for their unconscious and primal fear that they will never see us again, and that they were not good enough at being whatever they were to us to let us go just yet. And so we remain, in our same homes, at our same jobs, endlessly hoping for a future that is uncertain enough that we cannot even convince ourselves to have the courage to look for it. The only place it will ever be real is in our more pleasant dreams, and our less pleasant nightmares. The only reason this works is because we convince ourselves it is worth it.  _

_ Oh! Drat, I went off on a tangent, and now the skeleton trio is gone. Oh well, I'm sure their send-off was completely unremarkable and not even worth considering. Much like that future.  _

_ And now, it's time for Children's Fun Fact Science Corner! _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand that's it for this story! I'm sorry the ending is super late, and uh. Not. Great. But resolution is good, right? And considering this whole thing was supposed to be a one-off, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome! Anywho, thanks to everyone who came with on this crazy ride!


End file.
